#246 - PhD in Freakonomics

Michael and Us

Luke Savage and Will Sloan

Tv & Film

4.6 • 668 Ratings

🗓️ 25 June 2021

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We're still not entirely sure what the mega-bestselling 2005 book "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" was about, but it seems to have had something to do with arguing that economics is all about incentives. The 2010 anthology film adaptation FREAKONOMICS explores this thin thesis across segments directed by such documentary legends as Eugene Jarecki, Alex Gibney, and (ugh) Morgan Spurlock... but its "counterintuitive" take on capitalism ends up reinforcing some ugly ideas. PLUS: the wacky institution that is the Canadian Senate, and the long right-wing preoccupation with postmodernism. "How postmodernism became the universal scapegoat of the era" by Richard Seymour - https://www.newstatesman.com/international/2021/06/how-postmodernism-became-universal-scapegoat-era

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone. Before we begin today's show, just a quick reminder that Michael and Us has a lot more content available at patreon.com slash Michael and Us.
0:12.3	We post an extra episode there every week, along with bonus content, including, though not limited to interviews that I do in my day job.
0:19.8	A recent highlight being my conversation with the author and science fiction writer
0:23.6	Corey Docterow, with whom I discussed Bill Gates.
0:27.0	Recent Patreon episodes include an episode on Operation Coffee Cup
0:30.7	in the LP once recorded by Ronald Reagan attacking socialized medicine
0:34.4	and a crossover episode with the Real Politic podcast in which we discussed
0:38.7	the Bruce Springsteen Barack Obama collab Renegades, a podcast I hear is almost as popular as
0:44.2	ours. You'll also get access to our full archive of well over 100 past episodes. So if you
0:49.7	enjoy the free shows and want to hear more, please consider supporting us at patreon.com slash
0:54.7	Michael and Us. We're very grateful to be able to partner with Jacobin Radio, so please don't miss
0:59.5	other great podcasts on the Jacobin Network, like the recently launched Primer, a labor podcast about
1:04.8	Amazon hosted by my colleague Alex Press. Now without further ado, on with this week's free episode
1:10.2	of Michael Linus.
1:11.5	Hey, hey, hey, hey, she's a super freak. She's super freak day now. Everybody's saying.
1:23.9	Welcome to Michael and us. I'm Will Sloan. Here as always with. Luke Savage. Hey, everyone. I got my second Vax earlier today. I'm sure you probably saw the press conference I gave outside the clinic. Well, I actually couldn't hear the TV because the jubilation of the crowds in the street actually drowned it out. That's right, folks. Lock up your girlfriends. I'm fully vaxed now. And I got to say, everyone says that this second shot is really bad. And I don't know how much of this is psychosomatic. When we started recording, I did feel a little bit dizzy, a little bit lightheaded. Certainly, my arm is very sore. I don't know how much of that is just me kind of like playing into the role of being somebody
2:02.6	who's got a second shot. But I don't know. We'll see. Well, my first one wasn't too bad. I just
2:07.0	remember my arm hurting a lot. And I haven't gotten the second one yet. But from what I hear, just
2:11.4	anecdotally, it tends to be a bit worse than the first one. I had a story I wanted to share off the top that's related to a recent piece of news
2:19.9	that when I first saw it on Twitter, I just assumed it was a joke.
2:23.2	The backstory to this is that a few years ago, I guess back in 2016, I spoke at a youth conference
2:29.0	that was hosted by the Canadian Labor Congress, which is Canada's big National Federation
	...

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